17 replies to this topic

[Dave Pazyniak]

Good Morning,

 

I need to render my model with a grade that falls off to allow parking underneath the structure entering from behind.  I drew my property lines and added grade lines sloping the grade, but no ground shows in my render.  Render site is checked in the options box.  Tried a few times with same result.  I am just fudging in the grade numbers, not working from an actual site plan.  Tried drawing a flat grade across the property, same result.

 

I'm sure it is something pretty simple, but darned if I can figure it out...

 

Thanks,

Dave

[Henry Buckner]

Dave, the site polygon won't show up until you edit it. As for grade lines, I don't think they will help you much- to slope the grade add shot points and edit to the proper height. It's also helpful to trace around the building to create a building outline.

[Dave Pazyniak]

Thanks, Henry, but still nothing.  I am drawing this in the "Site" mode on the main floor drawing of my model (I have also tried it on the basement drawing).  I am creating my property polygon, and generating the grade and it shows in the site mode.  I am editing the points on one side of the site to 10' down, but when I go to 3D I still get nothing...

 

Every time I start to get confident in my skills, I run into another wall...

 

Dave

[Henry Buckner]

Does "auto horizon" work? Site polygon belongs on foundation plan, not the main floor.

[Dave Pazyniak]

Yes, auto horizon displays properly. Here are screen shots of my basement in site mode, and my render...

Attached Files

•  Screenshot (65).png   399.78KB   2 downloads
•  Screenshot (66).png   760.84KB   1 downloads

[Keith Almond]

I don't put the site polygon on the foundation plan. You should ideally create a separate site plan.

 

My process is as follows:

 

In the foundation plan, SITE MODE, GENERATE BUILDING OUTLINE, and save the resulting drawing as SITE PLAN. The advantage of doing it this way is that the SITE PLAN workspace is 4 times the size of the standard drawing workspace (twice as wide and twice as deep).

SKETCH PROPERTY LINE

SKETCH FENCE

ADD SHOT POINTS on the boundary and round the building. Additional shot points can be added as necessary to raise or lower any point on the site.

 

There are a few more items that are peculiar to the way I draw that I won't bother you with ...

 

Then save the site plan as a separate drawing and add to the bottom of the model stack. You can then adjust anything you want on the site plan without affecting anything else.

 

Note: Softplan understands that a site plan is different from other drawings, and if you just add it to a basement/foundation you don't get the full benefit of that difference.

[Henry Buckner]

I'm running out of ideas. When you edit the site polygon, what is the depth? If it's at zero it might not display, though I'm not sure about that.

[Henry Buckner]

Good advice, Keith, but I still don't understand why it won't display. I sketch site polygons on the foundation all the time with no trouble.

[Martin Livingston]

Did you add the site plan to the model?

[Henry Buckner]

He doesn't have a separate site plan,

[Dave Pazyniak]

Previous attempts were using SITE mode on the basement (and/or first floor) drawing.  Now I have a separate site plan drawing, using Keith's steps above.  I added the site drawing to the bottom of my model stack, and still not showing on the render. 

 

I clicked on my site polygon, and it was set to grade.  When I changed that to property, it now displays, and editing the points is shifting my grade.  Thank you all!

 

Is something wrong with my setup that I need to make that adjustment?  Or maybe I am not completing the sketch property command?

 

THANK YOU ALL!

[Dave Pazyniak]

One more related question.  Is there a trick to showing the grade change at a retention wall?

[Henry Buckner]

Good to know. I wonder how it got set to grade? Don't recall ever having to change that.

[Keith Almond]

I suspect that if you had a grade placed before the property polygon, then it would have taken those attributes. Similarly SHOT POINTS take on the attribute of the item they are placed on, so shot points adjacent to the building would typically show as BUILDING OUTLINE. I find it easier to add the shot points near where I want them, but ONLY on the PROPERTY polygon, and then move them into exact locations.

[Keith Almond]

One more related question.  Is there a trick to showing the grade change at a retention wall?

 

Add shot points to as necessary to each face of the wall. BEWARE:They read across so depending on their locations, you may get odd grades. Make sure each shot point has a complimentary shot point on the other side of the wall.

[randolph cohn]

ADD elevations to EACH CORNER OF THE PROPERTY.

[Kevin Johnson]

I have a dwg of a site plan from a surveyor. When I convert the topography lines to existing grade lines, they will not edit as a solid line, it is in fragments.

I have tried sketching existing grade line over top of them and turning off those others in layers, but they are close together and the screen is cluttered in lines and numbers.

Is there a way to get the original topography lines to join together to edit as one?

[Gary McKeon]

Unfortunately No Kevin. Change those topo lines to a different layer BEFORE you sketch new splines for the topo over them. Then turn off the layer for the new topo lines and erase the original lines.